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Phobia of Eastern Europeans. Why?

I'm at university since a few weeks and have made lot of new friends. Some of my current best friends are from countries like Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, etc.

When I told my parents that this Christmas I'm planning to go to the Balkans to some of my new friends' places, they started saying...
"Ah, boy, don't go to those countries. They're dangerous. You can go there as a tourist and you might get robbed, or even killed."
I thought they were joking, or probably referring to 20 years ago.
"And beware of them. Oh, Romanians, Bulgarians. They're dangerous people. They are very violent and will be ready to harm you in any possible way. Especially men, and brothers. It's in their mentality."
I was like O_o
"They're all thieves! They will use you for their own profit."
O_o
And what shocked me most, especially because I considered my parents to be open-minded...
"And my son! Don't go out with eastern european girls. You will regret it if you do so!"
:eek:

Why do you think my parents are suddenly like that?
Is there some truth, or at least a reason, behind what they are saying - or might they just have had some personal bad experience?
Have you had any bad experiences with eastern europeans?

Just curious.

Reply 1

LadyEnglish

2

It seems to be an effect of the media that your parents are suddenly so conscious of Eastern Europeans. It's a nasty side of social conditioning your parents appear to have fallen into and have been swept up in the whole 'all Eastern Europeans are dangerous' saga. You should in no way let it influence your friendships and don't condemn your parents either, blame the media :biggrin:

x

Reply 2

scaredashell

1

i'm at uni in poland at the moment and haven't had any trouble with them!

Reply 3

hapa_girl

7

I went to Poland this summer with my family.
Eastern Europeans are way nicer than the British.
I feel like I have more of a chance of being robbed, raped and murdered in England than over there.

Reply 4

LadyEnglish

2

hapa_girl

I feel like I have more of a chance of being robbed, raped and murdered in England than over there.

You're hanging out in the wrong places then...

Reply 5

hapa_girl

7

LadyEnglish

You're hanging out in the wrong places then...

You can 'hang out' on a street, in broad daylight, walking back home after school and still get attacked.

Reply 6

LadyEnglish

2

hapa_girl

You can 'hang out' on a street, in broad daylight, walking back home after school and still get attacked.

yes, but it's rare. It's just the media make you think it happens every day, we're all supposed to be suspended in alarm mode and we could be killed any second. Urgh it's ridiculous. If you want to be safe, stick to busy streets and try walking home with someone.

Reply 7

Chumbaniya

17

Sounds like your parents having bought into the frenzied propaganda spread by overly conservative xenophobes about how all Eastern Europeans are criminals. Just ask them if they have any justification whatsoever, and watch them spout more stereotyping crap whilst failing to provide even the slightest hint of evidence.

If they realise their claims are rubbish, you're fine. If they don't, ignore them and continue to maintain friendships with anyone you want. Just because they want to believe propaganda doesn't mean you should.

Reply 8

La Trampa

18

could be xenophobia or *Sigh* your parents are racist towards east europeans..ask them about africans or asians,and if it's bad,it'll confirm my latter suggestion of racism...how sad... :frown:

look you're at uni now so probably 18,so what you do and don't do is your decision.you could lie and say you're in cornwall and go to see your new friends.ignorace is bliss,what they don't know won't kill them.

Reply 9

jumpinglunch

13

pfft just throw their views away,lady english what part of richmond u from?

Reply 10

shinyhappy

14

In all fairness to your parents, they're probably still getting their heads round the fact that you've flown the nest. Their protective instincts are probably multiplied many times over by the fact that they don't really have any control over your life any more. Whilst what they've said is misguided, I agree with the people who've said not to condemn them, or tell them they're racist or xenophobic or whatever...
Have you introduced them to your eastern european friends? Might help them to understand more about them, and make them less nervous.

Reply 11

Princess In Disguise

That's not very nice...

Reply 12

MagicNMedicine

20

hapa_girl

I went to Poland this summer with my family.
Eastern Europeans are way nicer than the British.

yeah, they're way nicer than the Pakis and Jews as well while we're generalising

Reply 13

Anonymous #2

My brother was mugged at knifepoint when he went to Hungary.

However, your friends probably aren't like that, otherwise you wouldn't be friends with them. try and explain that it's better to formulate an opinion of a person on an individual basis rather than to assume that a particular nationality makes you inherently worse.

I went to a full-time boarding school with many overseas students. My mother also told me that i shouldn't make friends with anyone who wasn't english, and my brother backed her up. By ignoring them i made some of the best friends i'll ever have. :smile:

Reply 14

Tractor-girlie

Your parents might be worried as the people are generally poorer, they might think that your friends have other motives. However If they are internation students then they must have some money to pay the high fees.

Reply 15

puppy

MagicNMedicine

yeah, they're way nicer than the Pakis and Jews as well while we're generalising

Hahaha, just repped you for that.

Reply 16

NaN

1

hapa_girl

You can 'hang out' on a street, in broad daylight, walking back home after school and still get attacked.

Is it really that bad in other places? I feel really safe here. We have chavs and things, but they're always fairly friendly and won't give you any hassle. I walk from the train station to my house on the weekends sometimes (quite late, about 12am), which goes right through town and I've never had any trouble with drunks either.

Reply 17

puppy

hapa_girl

I feel like I have more of a chance of being robbed, raped and murdered in England than over there.

But probably only because you've been led to believe that's the case by media coverage or whatever. I doubt that, in reality, there is a big enough difference in rates of violent crime to justify feeling that way.

Reply 18

MagicNMedicine

20

Be sensible people....the Balkans is a volatile area and there have been a lot of wars and racial conflict between different groups there, Serbs, Croatians, Albanians etc. It's not going to be as safe travelling there as it is travelling to a Western European democracy like France or Germany. There are also groups of shady gypsy-style mafia over there. Having said that people travel to countries like this all the time and come away with no problems, you could say the same about travelling to Sri Lanka or Indonesia.

Reply 19

puppy

MagicNMedicine

Be sensible people....the Balkans is a volatile area and there have been a lot of wars and racial conflict between different groups there, Serbs, Croatians, Albanians etc. It's not going to be as safe travelling there as it is travelling to a Western European democracy like France or Germany. There are also groups of shady gypsy-style mafia over there. Having said that people travel to countries like this all the time and come away with no problems, you could say the same about travelling to Sri Lanka or Indonesia.

A lot of Eastern European countries are very stable though, and EU members. There were a lot of riots in Paris over the last year so I'm not sure what your point is about France being safe. I'd agree with the mafia thing, but that's a problem in a lot of countries you'd call 'Western European democracies'

Phobia of Eastern Europeans. Why?

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